The use of various and diverse chemical materials and particularly, cationic quaternary ammonium compounds, as softeners and antistatic agents for textile products, is very well known in the art. It is well known to employ such materials for their antistatic and softening effects during laundering operations and particularly in the rinse cycle of the laundering process. This latter technique has been practiced because the aforesaid quaternary compounds heretofore employed, being mainly cationic in nature, were not compatible with anionic detergents, one of the major types of detergents used in the washing cycle. Furthermore, said quaternary compounds are substantially ineffective in the presence of nonionic detergents.
It is also well known that there is a tendency for laundered articles to yellow or discolor when treated with the aforesaid quaternary compounds.
Another disadvantage associated with the use of said cationic agents in the laundering of fabrics with nonionic detergents is an interference with the deposition on the fabrics of optical brightener, thereby reducing whitening performance of a detergent composition containing said optical brightener.
Still another disadvantage of the cationic quaternary ammonium antistatic softeners is their interference with the cleaning properties of the detergent by their reducing the soil removal effected by the detergent, resulting in decreased washing effectiveness. Also, the presence of the anionic detergent material substantially negates fabric softening properties of the cationic quaternary ammonium compounds and counteracts antistatic properties of said quaternary compounds.
Accordingly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,927 uses a fabric softening and antistatic composition in the water rinse during laundering, which composition comprises a cationic quaternary ammonium compound in conjunction with an alkylethanolamide.
N-alkyl fatty acid amides, wherein said alkyl radical contains 1-22 carbon atoms, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,508 as foam depressants in anionic detergents; N-alkyl fatty acid amides, wherein said alkyl contains 12-18 carbon atoms, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,691,636 as foam stabilizers in anionic detergents; N-dodecylacetamide has been used in anionic or nonionic detergent compositions as a foam enhancer, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,702,278; and higher alkyl hydroxyacetamides or -butyramides have been found useful in nonionic detergents as foam improvers, as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,719.
Mono- or diamides having the formula ##STR1## wherein R is an aliphatic straight or branched chain hydrocarbon radical having from 1 to 23 carbon atoms, R' is hydrogen or an aliphatic straight or branched chain hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 10 carbons, n is 1 or 2 and Ar is a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic radical, are used as pearling agents in shampoo compositions, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,891,912.
Anionic, amphoteric and/or nonionic detergent compositions containing higher alkyl polyhydroxylated carboxamides as textile softening agents are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,166; and higher fatty acid monoamides of hydroxyalkylpolyamine are disclosed as textile softeners in U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,228.
Fatty amide-alkylene oxide reaction products have also been utilized as textile softening agents for laundered fabrics, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,505.
N-substitued short chain carboxamides of secondary aliphatic beta amines have been used as antistatic agents in the laundering process, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,192.
Isostearic acid, partially neutralized to a mixture of the soap and said acid, forms a stable opaque liquid conditioning shampoo, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,122; and said combination of isostearate and isostearic acid has also been used as two components in a four component emulsifying and solubilizing composition, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,403.
An alkali metal salt of isostearic acid has been used together with a noncationic detergent in a fabric softening detergent composition, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,905.
Japanese patent Nos. 70/17,403, 70/22,121, 70/22,122 and 70/22,521, disclose what are referred to as isostearic amides.
However, none of aforesaid prior art discloses N-alkylisostearamides as antistatic agents, and none discloses any for such function in the presence of built or unbuilt anionic and/or nonionic detergents.